More rain is expected for Greeley today. The morning will start off cool, with temperatures most of the day in the 60s, possibly getting close to 70 degrees. Expect rain showers throughout the day, with things not drying out until Monday. However, the chance of storms over the weekend drops to just 40 percent.

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The Greeley area escaped Thursday’s barrage of flooding in better shape than most neighboring cities, but local officials anticipated that evening that more water was headed their way.

City emergency managers said while high water was not yet a problem in Greeley, localized flooding was expected in low-lying areas adjacent to the Poudre River early this morning and throughout the day.

Greeley officials said they didn’t expect intense flooding, but were bracing for the type of flooding that comes with spring runoff.

The South Platte River north of Kersey, too, was expected to breach its banks, flooding low-lying areas east of Weld County Road 45 along the river, according to Weld County officials.

With a flood stage of 10 feet, the South Platte River near Kersey was at 8.5 feet at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, expected to rise above flood stage that night, then peak near 12.5 feet early Saturday morning before falling below flood stage early Sunday.

Flood stage for the Poudre near Greeley is 8 feet. The river was forecast to rise to near 8.7 feet this evening, and fall back below flood stage Saturday morning.

All of western Weld County remained in a flood warning Thursday night, according to the National Weather Service.

While Greeley and nearby areas were still in wait-and-see mode late Thursday, there was already plenty of flood damage to be assessed in other parts of Weld and the Front Range.

Heavy rains and scarring from recent wildfires sent walls of water crashing down mountainsides Thursday, cutting off mountain towns and killing at least three people in northern Colorado.

President Barack Obama approved a request from Gov. John Hickenlooper for federal disaster assistance related to the flooding in Boulder, El Paso and Larimer counties.

In Weld, dozens of roads were closed due to flooding — including the Thursday night closure of Colo. 66 between Interstate 25 and U.S. 85.

On Thursday afternoon, shelters were set up in Mead, Fort Lupton, Erie and elsewhere to accommodate residents who had evacuated from those areas, and also from Frederick and Firestone. Firestone and Frederick officials also signed a disaster declaration to permit the flow of federal, state and county funds to assist in any disaster mitigation efforts as permitted.

Darci Clark, who lives in the Frederick/Firestone area, said she looked outside her home about 3:45 a.m. Thursday — about the time her power went out — and saw about two feet of water in her backyard.

“It was pouring in the fireplace” on the third floor, she said, noting that she also had about foot of water in her basement, and her neighbors, too, had basements full of water.

Johnstown/Milliken Re-5J and Fort Lupton Re-8 schools announced they will be closed today because of the weather the weather. Classes were canceled.

The heavy rains were a mixed blessing for the local agriculture industry.

“You can never turn down moisture,” said Jerrold Brethauer, though the Kersey-area farmer and others acknowledged that local crop growers are now up against the clock this fall, with harvest behind schedule.

Crops were planted late in the spring following snow storms in May, and are now about a week to two weeks behind.

Farmers are in need of dry weather to get back out in the fields and harvest crops before frosts arrive this fall.

“It’s certainly not helping us with harvest,” said Doug Rademacher, a Weld County commissioner and local farmer, adding that the rains this week were unlike any other he’s seen in his 56 years of living on his farm, which is about a 1/2-mile southeast of Mead. “But at the same time, a lot of people are going to be filling their reservoirs with all of this water. Anytime you can get reservoirs filled, that’s good for farmers ... and for everybody.”

Local ranchers noted that the heavy rains would also do favors for area pastures.

However, not everyone with livestock fared well this week.

Keith Maxey, director of the Colorado State University Extension office in Weld, said he’d received reports of a Fort Lupton dairy that, despite efforts to get livestock to higher ground, lost several calves in the rising waters.

With the flooding worse in other areas, the city of Greeley sent police officers to help with emergency services in Longmont Thursday night.

In anticipation of higher water today, city officials said an emergency call offering a flood warning notification for residents in flood-prone areas along the Poudre River in Greeley would be sent if needed.

This will be a pre-evacuation notification, and not an evacuation order, they said.

If evacuation orders are issued, shelter locations will be identified at that time.

Also taking preparations, oil and gas company Encana announced that all non-critical site visits have been suspended across the Front Range. Crews are conducting site-by-site visits to evaluate existing storm water controls when and where it is safe to do so.

As a safeguard, Encana has shut in production in those areas hit hardest by the storm. The wells will remain shut in until weather stabilizes and water recedes, according to a news release.

Community members are encouraged to report any concerns to Encana’s emergency hotline at (303) 659-7740.